House GOP Immigration Principles Omit the Most Important Principle: Protecting the Interests of the American People

In response to today’s release by the Republican House leadership of their principles for immigration reform, the following statement was issued by Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American ImmigrationReform.

“Instead of standing up for Americans, House Republicans have unfortunately offered nothing more than a vague set of principles in a seeming effort to satisfy special interests, while wholesale ignoring the AmericanPeople.

“The Republican principles call for illegal aliens to be allowed to ‘live legally and without fear in the U.S.’ of having the law enforced against them. This is clearly and undeniably amnesty. There is one way for illegal aliens to ‘get right with the law,’ and that is to obey thelaw.

“In addition, the document calls for immediate and unconditional amnesty for younger illegal aliens. The DREAM Act has been repeatedly rejected by Congress and the American people. It is an inducement for millions more parents to send or bring their children to the United States illegally in thefuture.

“Like the Senate bill they disavow, the House GOP principles would grant immediate legal status to illegal aliens before any enforcement provisions are in place. The Republican principles reiterate enforcement promises that have already been enacted and routinely ignored by both Democratic and Republicanadministrations.

“The principles clearly bear the fingerprints of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other corporate interests that have been aggressively lobbying the House leadership for more cheap foreign labor, both permanent and temporary. Moreover, while criticizing the current family chain migration policy, the Republican principles do not call for the elimination of immigration entitlements for extended familymembers.

“Like President Obama, the House leadership’s principles would put a dagger through the heart of the struggling American middle class by flooding our already saturated labor market with millions of new workers who will compete against them for jobs and undercutwages.

“Like President Obama, the House leadership’s plan for immigration reform would place unsustainable burdens on our already overburdened and underfunded social safetynet.

“In short, the principles offered by the House leadership not only ignore the core interests of the American people, they willingly sacrifice those interests to satisfy the demands of powerful special interestgroups.”